the gateway to the grand imperial truly the torch was the push you can to listen to the closeness you see don't need to go and. run to the kennel was hotel retreat. today's top stories on the review all week here on r t some bugs task of recovery rescue is a pairing to lift the russian a cruiser from the bottom of the boulder river where it sank in a matter of minutes last sunday claiming around one hundred and thirty nine. relatives and investigators are all looking for answers as to why the ship sunk so fast we'll bring you all the details from the recovery site in just a moment. apologies keep on coming from good model for an ethical practices by one of his newspapers as he struggles to keep a lid on the scandal threatening to bring down his media empire. banking on change

the libyan rebels now have full diplomatic recognition from washington with their access to colonel gadhafi has assets frozen in u.s. banks. and intercontinental cash crunch as america faces up to the possibility of default europe's debt crisis contagion piles more pressure on the thing you're. with the stories that made headlines this week you're watching the weekly show it's been described as the biggest boating disaster in russia's modern history in the space of just three minutes a pleasure cruiser with two hundred eight people on board went down in the volga river taking over half its passengers with us nearly one hundred and thirty people were killed many of them children a week later the operation to raise the ship from the bottom is underway and is now . c.n.n.

are monitoring the situation for us and tom higher so how long is it likely to take you think to lift the ship out of the group and get off the grid. well roy the ball gary is still under the water at the moment behind me you can probably see the tops of two enormous cranes that have been brought up from further downstream and they're attached to them or is it an enormous cable that goes down and is threaded underneath the ship and that cable is going to be used first of all at the moment divers and in the crane teams or in the process of trying to write that all garrett was leaned on it's left side and then once they've riced it they'll be able to start to lift it up a lot of the complications that divers are facing are due to the way under speed that the ship sank. firstly the fact that it's on its left side will mean that divers will have to go under that left side as it's righted first of all to check that the ship is structurally sound to be rich to be raise and also to try and look

for some of the fifteen bodies which have still to be accounted for which still haven't been found then once they start to raise the ship divers are going to have to first of all try and find essentially the hole to let in all the water and some of the ship once they have found that builds want to seal that hole and all the other gaps on the ship so that once it's partially raised they'll be able to pump out the water from the ship making it light enough to raise it more easily a very complex operation visibility in the water is very poor for the divers there's a lot of alga in the water at this time and so it's proving to be a drawn out process but one that is crucial for all those people waiting for answers and some obviously as you're saying a very complicated and persistent job indeed bringing up the bulgaria from the riverbed well obviously recovering the vessel will make a major difference to the investigation what it. absolutely it will i mean divers and the emergencies ministry here plan to try and make any information. the

divers find available as soon as possible for investigators and investigators are certainly wanting to know that crucial question why this ship sank so fast what an earth could have gone wrong also people wanted to know that our relatives not just the relatives of the fifteen people still missing but all the relatives and the survivors who are waiting on the banks for any news as to how this tragedy could have happened some arrests have already been made including the lady who's the owner of the company who rented to bulgaria for what would be its final voyage and also a shipping expert people connected with the ship that may have known what has people these revelations keep coming out about the appallingly poor and decrypted condition of the ship and various other revelations have come out its hopes but as the ship is raised what has been a mystery for so long move very quickly be revealed what caused the ship to sink so fast and to cause such immense tragedy we've prepared

a special report looking at the background of the tragedy since it happened this afternoon last sunday and we will show you that report now which shows all the background to this tragedy. a mountain of cuddly toys never to be played with they are flowers and candles a testament to the children among those who drowned when the pleasure boat bulgaria sank in the volga last sunday. we study together for a year she never had arguments with a new i'm sure was very kind of go and it was always ready to help. the ship sank in just three minutes turning a summer afternoon on the river into a scene of horror. that people were basically buried alive in china matthew coffin we managed to get out through the windows i was there with my ten year old daughter

i couldn't rescue her she swallowed too much water when i was pulled out i realized my child was gone in the chaos to escape many other families were also torn apart one five year old boy lost his mother and grandmother and was only kept afloat by a man who grabbed his hand another man unable to hold on to his son in the strong current oil slick had to watch him drown in front of him yuri was the deejay for the disco on the bottom deck he only just managed to escape. and i remember clearly that water was rising very quickly it was a matter of seconds i survived because we saw. in the sailor started pushing people out through it at that moment on the surface and then unsolder the port was already underwater. over half the bulgaria's two hundred eight passengers and crew including the captain is wife and child never made it out meanwhile as the arabella

another pleasure boat arrived at the scene she was surrounded by people screaming and drowning unable to reach the banks of the vast river three kilometers away. as we approached it was hard to distinguish in the dark water of people who were alive from the rubble that was floating around people were in panic when we rescued them in a state of shock some suffering from other traumas and they were all covered in oil fuel that was leaking from a sunken ship it was a terrifying picture i have to say despite a huge search and rescue operation after the initial survivors were picked up. the divers and cranes working in this water have been trying to recover just something. the lives lost and families destroyed in those few terrible minutes but they've also been working on the question the cost so much why did the bulgaria sink and sink so fast. as the list of bodies recovered from the ship grew so did the number of revelations about an aging dangerous and badly managed vessel

eyewitnesses people connected with the ship came forward with damning accounts of its poor condition and the stingy management who forced it to keep sailing. i became captain of the vessel in two thousand and seven ship had made been renovated for world four that there were big problems with the engines and power generators repeatedly mention that to the management and even had an argument with them port authorities say they were lied to the ship was only supposed to carry one hundred forty people but was loaded with over two hundred they were told it was carrying twenty more tales about on including a broken engine electricity generators failing so that no s.o.s. signal or tunnel instructions could be issued and blocked emergency exits criminal cases have been opened and arrests being made to the bulgaria sinking and more controversially into why two ships which reached the scene before the arab didn't

pick up a single person but reports the crewmembers instead took her picture and their mobile phones. if you and you will all the passengers were shocked there were about seventeen people on a raft and many have cuts and injuries that were bleeding we yelled for help but i saw the boards passers by anything from direction towards. a slow process of raising the whole area has now started up with it will come the potential for answers but also terrible memories in particular associated with the ship's place or a group of children were gathered when the ship sank. just some of the. victims in what will go down as one of russia's worst and most of the boys are shifting. from boston policy. or the captain of the ship who did help to rescue seventy seven people from the sinking has been describing the horrific disaster scene interview

with us here in the city you can see it in full in just over an hour's time or find it online right now at our website dot com has all the length of the intense search and recovery operation since the tragedy happened and people stay there and remember to check out our you tube channel for all of our videos on the sandwich mission. is. if. you're watching the weekly if you're an artsy the former chief executive officer rupert murdoch's british newspaper operation has been arrested by police

investigating allegations of phone hacking and rivalry rebecca brooks is the tenth person to be detained in connection with the scandal that's engulfed the now defunct news of the world it comes as prime minister david cameron admits he's held more than twenty meetings with murdoch executives in the past year murdoch is now desperately trying to rescue news cause crippling a crumbling reputation today the media mogul made a second apology for the phone hacking scandal he ready admitted serious wrongdoing on the pages of critics newspapers and the family of a murdered teenager whose voice mail was intercepted. lore and reports it's a watershed moment for the cozy relationship between britain's politicians and press. aide put it green media and. wouldn't own t.v. radio even the scariest when thought imitates life the long running simpsons takes a shot at its owner rupert murdoch aka montgomery burns in an episode broadcast apparently coincidentally this week. but it's

not the only piece of timing in the extraordinary phone hacking case that seems to get more scandalous every day the list of something like four thousand names which the police have have since about two thousand and four three thousand and five and yet the book printed facie evidence of criminal activity by these individuals and boy by the murdoch empire and yet they have not acted on it so why now just as the murdoch deal to take control of satellite t.v. giant piece guy be sure to go ahead his rival the guardian newspaper releases catastrophic allegations of a moral journalists and their shady practices that when the deal collapses the times for example which currently loses money it could have transferred some of the profits from. investing in the times and if you will for example.

the guardian or the daily telegraph. that it's not just rival newspapers who stand to gain from murdoch's empire crumbling the b.b.c. could retake t.v. territory lost to b. sky b. and the labor party which was wounded by years of relentless attacks by murdoch papers can finally take revenge but where will all this lead. america. that would suit the government just fine the british. press is famous for its sharp teeth and no holds barred doggedness particularly where its own government is concerned prime minister david cameron has all but shut down the press complaints commission and already talks of statutory controls to govern print journalists back in springfield mr burns is thought it as the townspeople put up

their own newspaper and he's almost right. is it possible you can truly the media because of rupert murdoch he. murdoch sounds as did mr burns that you just can't buy all the newspapers those outside his control have been gunning for him for years and this time they may have succeeded just as he looks set to consolidate control over a launch section of the u.k.'s media markets the drugs being pulled out from under him and it's all over the hidden scandal now revealed that the police have known about it for years nor ever its r.t. . and richard out of media education for believes it's naive to assume it's only a couple of words which are capitalizing on the dodgy data. where this does become a question for national security is the idea that police are selling private phone

numbers and private contact details of people like the royal family and the prime minister obviously is not necessarily the same to sell these things to a newspaper as it would be to sell them to a terrorist organization but if you can do one you may be able to do the other so it's very serious the whole edifice of news international is deeply intertwined with the downing street machine all that has yet to come out and will cause a lot more headaches but i think what people i talk to and. expecting is for the scandal to go up through the chief executive of news international to james murdoch and james murdoch himself and many people say should step down whether he's for. this escape without serious damage is also doubtful although i don't think he's going to retire or leave the helm of the company. you're watching the weekly here on our t.v. it's good to have your company on this sunday so i have to give us our worries about that if we had some of us on the front of a financial nightmare what it might do to try to avoid it.

in a we'll go frenzy as high speed formula one super cars race right through the center of moscow. a new round of nato airstrikes has rattled at the libyan capital tripoli that's kind of could happen without a never to leave his country in the face of assaults by the alliance and the rebels this comes off of the opposition became the legitimate authority in the country and the nation and the u.s. more than thirty other states recognize that but a diplomatic meeting on friday saying they would deal with them until an interim government is in place the recognition of contact group on libya also gives the rebels access to billions of dollars of debt after his present assets and u.s. banks political commentator ted rall who says the move is a radical shift from the international standpoint. the united states usually doesn't extend diplomatic which missions to

a regime that is not in the count going all that isn't it and doesn't even seem likely to be able to achieve power anytime soon do you mean the situation in afghanistan during the one thousand nine hundred sixty two thousand and one civil conflict between the taleban in the northern alliance the northern alliance were the former regime. power in kabul and the diplomatic relations with the west even though the taleban controlled ninety five percent of the country it's almost just wishful thinking even seriously if i were a diplomat i would find it disturbing and it's a bizarre situation i mean it's the u.s. knows who these people are they're not seeing and certainly there's no doubt that traditionally there's always been a very high component. in your. gazi so it's unrealistic to assume that that is not still because the us is an amazing bit of shipping skids full of hundred dollar bills to third world countries and expecting them to end up

in the raid against and really going to have. a high level of recognition of the rebels may bolster their spirit but it's a different story about fierce fighting for a key eastern oil town has ended with heavy casualties among the opposition and it's also you turn your butcher reports it's thought now that france is trying the talking tactic with the libyan regime after failing to deliver a knockout blow took a deaf ears. books is like bragging they'll destroy their reporter lives they're often wrong and gets a nasty surprise. french foreign minister should pay postage france would we live in quote days or weeks the wars into a fourth month and the final round inside nicolas sarkozy with his western allies seen shocked their little opponents fighting back well it's not just an embarrassment for sarkozy some american for. her is even admits all the

libya's rebels will return some somalia. wench to libya for training within the last two or three years plus documented we have the records and everything else so it seems strange in many ways the whole western support of some of that will groups in libya must be questioned because in some cases i think we are effectively arming al-qaeda. it's all making a mockery of the un votes on foreign intervention in the country. by leading it. giving. none of. this. witnesses nato bombing of libya as causing widespread atrocities for every one military person that was supposedly a casualty there were ten civilians frauds categorically ruled out cindy grilled troops but exposed predict is the only way they'll to break the libyan deadlock the

moves the splitting the nato coalition silvio berlusconi head of key partly italy admits invading libya was a mistake russia abstained did the us vote. bombs would bring havoc in libya to pay said the latest tool to counterparts to get love rough would call. lloyd lee stripling much leaks. with elections just annoying months away thought voices that a successful war could resurrect his chances instead one paper reuters libya's becoming a slow motion call crutch for france the deeply unpopular president. is easy jogging for exclusives with thing is understandable as is libyan spring is turning into a marathon. see paris power twenty minutes past the hour here in the russian capital you are with the weekly time is running out for american politicians to agree on

the next move in sorting out its soaring that a deadline to lift the nation's fourteen point three trillion dollars debt ceiling is looming ever closer as lawmakers struggle to find a compromise president obama is urging democrats and republicans to ignore their differences to avert a leading credit rating agencies say there's a risk the u.s. could fail to resolve the deadlock quickly or effectively economist dr roger about handwork says the disagreement on capitol hill is interfering with attempts to reach a solution. is a personality conflict between the majority leader and the president which is quite unique and this has been taken into the public avenue of discussion once that happens and trust is last night when the leaders it's far more difficult to secure an agreement behind the scenes if you cut spending you're going to also intrigued economic growth because the government is one of the largest employers if you bring troops home and stop the wars you also have

a problem with employment as servicemen and women come home these are classic economic problems what's required in the u.s. is a drastic program of infrastructure development and public try to guarantee wages and no interest loans for average americans italy defaults for instance in europe it will be impossible for northern europe to bail out italy that'll take the u.s. over if the dollar significantly loses. are you in the us is unable to help europe that will in turn take the us down the japanese no more have do not have sufficient liquidity to help this time around as they did in two thousand and eight the euro is intrinsically wheat that one is not a competitor for the dollar the ruble stands to be fairly stable given russia standing as a major energy producer a natural resource giant on the world scene so the ruble should remain relatively stable the dollar however has nothing to go down against except frank and if you look at the dollar and the franc the monetary relationship is an all time low and

that struggle for the future the best two currencies probably other norwegian kroner and the swiss franc at this point gold is over traded and as we saw in two thousand and eight there can be a paradoxical drop in the price of gold during a micro market crisis so banking on gold is a highly risky proposition. well things are a little better in europe with italy now the focus of stopping the eurozone heading into oblivion. a tough seventeen billion euro cut package to avoid a debt like power it's the euro zone's third largest economy and could prove too big for its neighbors to bail out meanwhile eight out of nineteen european banks have failed stress tests to see if they can survive another financial crisis financial writer patrick young says the italian people's response to the budget cuts will echo what's happened in greece. it will be one significant difference between the people who take to the streets between greece and italy and that is but in greece at least thank goodness the taxi drivers don't go on strike where is

nuclei expected almost everybody is going to end up on strike and it's going to be absolutely chaotic the only way they can slip this through is perhaps because we do have this long lead in time until the cuts really start to make an impact in two thousand and thirteen but i think the problem is in the meantime a large amount of the sort of the leftist opposition in italy for see the fact that silvio berlusconi due to many of the reasons most of which are outside of the direct school reason are well i mean he's a wounded animal at this point in time and in some ways i think that he's going to be finding it very difficult to hold his government together there are big problems in western europe the havens to be definitely to the east and everyone was talking fortunately expect further to the crisis because the epidemic the contagion seems to be spreading and we have no political leadership seeming to do with. you with our two years we're highlighting the week's top stories here on the we are not it's pause and check out some of today's other international headlines the u.s.

led coalition has started handing over control of some of afghanistan's territories to local security forces the central bank a young pitcher who has become the first of seven areas where that's to happen ahead of the end of may first combat operations in the country in two thousand and fourteen senior ministers and foreign ambassadors mark the event by visiting the province which remained relatively peaceful throughout the new head to head long occupation of afghanistan. venezuelan president hugo chavez is back in with cuba for more cancer treatment including therapy you know more malignant cells have been found after he had surgery to remove a tumor from his pocket region was transferred some powers to his ministers during his absence but didn't agree to opposition calls for a temporary handover of all presidential authority but his battle with cancer has raised doubts over his fitness to lead the country but officially he still play. to run for reelection next year. egypt's prime minister has begun a major cabinet reshuffle off the public protests demanding political reform again

flared up in the country the foreign minister has resigned while two new deputy prime ministers have been appointed the interim prime minister has been forced to make changes often widespread anger that bill appears to have changed at the top since president mubarak was ousted. look taliban has described the assassination of the afghan president's half brother as one of the biggest achievements in a decade the head of kandahar special council was gunned down by one of his own bodyguards on tuesday journalist gerry found dyke who's being held hostage by the taliban says the death is a blow to the u.s. led war if it. was not just the governor or the shadow governor of kandahar he was the most powerful and the most popular person throughout all of southern afghanistan this shows that right now with the canadian troops pulling out and with the u.s. trying to now focus on eastern afghanistan feeling that they have controlled the

south there is now a vacuum who is in power who can the west rely upon you know what the taliban have claimed responsibility for this but it's not clear that the taliban are responsible it could very easily be a power struggle i've also heard and others have reported that he was responsible for perhaps starting to bring the taliban together with the united states to negotiate their force someone would have had a different reason perhaps pakistan perhaps the taliban to stop this we don't know yet who is responsible because they killed the person who had all the information. that was our journalist jerry van dyke that committing all the killing of the afghan president's half brother. several of moscow streets are impassable right now but not because of the notorious traffic jams they've been sealed off to temporarily become the realm of the fast and the furious the annual moscow city racing show is that full throttle in a four wheel frenzy that seeing drivers pushing the pedal to the metal and outdoing

each other tv's top gear team were there to kick it all off rather push it all off to look at this person as unlucky ness on plunging seventy eight meters at the end of a bungee and there was somebody inside a female member of the audience hopefully well strapped in both woman and machine emerged unscathed and even the heavy rain couldn't stop formula one's cars from speeding past the kremlin the sort of rehearsal for the one gram free which russia will host in three years' time. are some great pictures right there but i'll be back with today's and this week's headlines in just a few moments to stay with us. down

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